The U.S. dollar ended mildly higher against most major currencies on Thursday as investors were awaiting a key vote on Republican healthcare plans.

U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers pushed on Wednesday for votes for their plan to overhaul Obamacare, saying they were making progress in their efforts to win over conservative members of the party who have demanded changes to the legislation.

With a vote on the bill possible as soon as Thursday, losing or delaying it would bruise investors' confidence in Trump's ability to implement his economic policies.

On the economic front, in the week ending March 18, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 258,000, an increase of 15,000 from the previous week's revised level, the U.S. Labor Department announced Thursday.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major peers, was up 0.09 percent at 99.765 in late trading.

In late New York trading, the euro fell to 1.0781 dollars from 1.0804 dollars in the previous session, and the British pound climbed to 1.2512 dollars from 1.2485 U.S. dollars in the previous session. The Australian dollar decreased to 0.7630 U.S. dollar from 0.7681 U.S. dollar.

The U.S. dollar bought 111.11 Japanese yen, higher than 110.87 yen of the previous session. The U.S. dollar rose to 0.9930 Swiss franc from 0.9916 Swiss francs, and it edged up to 1.3345 Canadian dollars from 1.3343 Canadian dollars.